Zhonghua Wenming Jinian - The Annals of the Chinese Civilization

[thestick]

It turns out that Fishing was a mistake I should have gone Bronze Working->The Wheel->Fishing. Getting The Wheel for Roads turns out to be the limiting factor.

The Plan:



I immediately swapped to Bronze Working, though it doesn't actually speed up The Wheel. Oh well. Basically, two-pop whipping a Worker and funneling the overflow into a Settler. City 2 will be settled T25.

I built the Warrior before the Work Boat because the Work Boat completes T26 either way.

I chopped the forest 2E of the capital with A instead of a forest to the south because if I chopped one of the forests south of the capital, The Wheel comes one turn too late and A would just twiddle his thumbs for a turn. On the plus side, I still have a forest to chop into City 2.

[thestick]

It looks like all the goodies are in the south. (Kuanghai still means Sea of Madness.)

[thestick]

The lay of the land:


(Stupid stitching program cutting off the resource bubbles...)
Met Sian, he's somewhere to the southwest.

Both the spots that share existing food (pink and orange) miss out on claiming first-ring food... early religion is looking a bit tempting.

[thestick]

Finally something happening in external affairs:



Sian has a Size 4 capital and is obvious going to whip. I'm guessing Mardoc landed Buddhism - Jowy's Ind/Chm/Stonehenge and Bob's Creative.

[thestick]

Wait... since Chm/Exp Sian is probably going for Stonehenge too, that means there's shouldn't be any competition for Hinduism.

[thestick]

Bob came wandering out of the northeast:


Paranoid of Warrior choking, so my Warrior's hanging out in the forest 1SE of its current position. Bob's dumping all his EPs on me - I'm currently dumping mine on Sian.

Current scouting knowledge:

[thestick]

The current version of The Plan, T25-40:


(Typo T30; Kuanghai should only have 4 hammers in a Warrior)
Supplemental Images:

As you can see, I'm hoping to hit Polytheism and Hinduism T32/33. The main advantage is the increased happy cap - I can't see another early source of happiness beyond the Gold. Also, forest look scarce on this map, making chopping out Monuments unappealing. However, Ximen won't gain any useful tiles when its borders pop. T32/33 seems rather late, too...

I decided to found the southern spot first because my Workers were in the south near Ximen. Also, the northern spot is primarily there to share cottages, but I don't have enough Worker labor to build cottages yet.

I wonder if I'm building too many Warriors...

Notes to self:

1. Try to squeeze out another commerce somewhere - I'm about 1 beaker short of researching Polytheism T32.
2. Try to squeeze out another hammer out of Ximen - one extra hammer plus the Expansive bonus gives me the Worker a turn sooner.
3. Work on Yuedao - I complete a Work Boat but don't actually work the Crabs.
4. Test improving Gold before Horses at Ximen.

(Ximen means Gate of Hope; Yuedao means Lunar Island. Most names are tentative.)

[thestick]

...and take all that and throw it out the window.



Bob's coming in for the Sheep pillage. My Warrior completes end of next turn thanks to a forest chop. If Bob moves onto the Sheep next turn there's not much I can do besides flip a coin to save the Sheep. (Dry-whipping a Warrior seemed like a bad idea here.)

As for why I didn't move my Warrior... I want Bob to think that I have a Warrior in my capital so that he'll be fearful of moving onto the Sheep and getting double-teamed. I thought that retreating my Warrior indicated that my capital was empty, so I shouldn't. Now to pace about wondering if this was a good idea.

[thestick]

Bob decided to offer a cease fire:


I took it; I'd rather funnel the chop into a Work Boat instead of a Warrior.




Since I sunk a turn of chopping into a forest, Ximen will be settled T26.

[thestick]

Okay, apparently proposing an empty trade AND THEN declaring war via alt-click sends a secret, invisible cease-fire offer at the end of your turn. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure!


Well, I said I wouldn't ask for a reload, and it's not worth setting us back two days of turns over, but for the record I am very disappointed with whichever Civ IV programmer implemented this little bit of idiocy

Time to try this again?



I'm still stalling for time; I roaded the tile with two chops in it and chopped an unchopped forest. If Bob comes in, I chop the Warrior and it completes in time to whack Bob's Warrior before he pillages the Sheep. If he doesn't, the Work Boat completes on schedule, though the Wheat farm has been delayed one turn.